man, kept at work till eleven or twelve o'clock at night, has no time to recreate himself in the enjoyments of society. It is this deprivation from which so many suffer-not more bodily than mentally; but I shall show you that the one constantly re-acts upon the other; and if you break down the barriers of health in the one, you break down the barriers in the other. We sometimes speak with disapprobation of that system of religion which excludes men and women from society in monasteries and nunneries; but when I look at the Draper's shops, I see something like a system of monastic seclusion going on, excluding its victims from all the privileges of society. But let us trace the condition of these young men further. In that little passage I have read to you, the writer speaks not only of the sufferings they undergo in the day, but what they are also exposed to at night. It appears that even when reposing, they cannot obtain that pure atmosphere so necessary to every function of life.

I will now proceed to show you how this system must act injuriously on every organ of the body, and become the fruitful source of immorality, disease, and death. In the first place, then, I would call your attention to the general constitution of man-to his physical structure, and his position in the world. We find that he stands at the head of the animal creation; and we find that all animals are dependent for life and existence upon the vegetable productions of the earth; and, was the vegetable kingdom to cease to exist, man would perish, and we should have nothing remaining but the immaterial world. This process of converting the vegetable into the animal, is performed by means of various organs which perform various functions in the animal frame. If we examine the animal frame, we find it consists of solids and fluids; of the latter, the blood is the most prominent. It circulates through the whole frame, and it is out of this blood that the animal is made up. Blood is prepared from the vegetable kingdom; and, being thus prepared, goes to build up the whole fabric of the body. Now, although man is not merely composed of particles of matter-although he does exhibit something more than the laws shown in the mineral kingdom, still his whole existence depends upon the fact of his being a material being. Whatever may be his powers of motion-whatever his sensations-his power of preserving his relations to the external world-whatever may be his power of reflecting upon and contemplating them, and thinking of them in connexion with the Author of his being, and rising on the wings of hope, and realizing another and a better existence, we find that the whole depends upon definite physical conditions. It is thus, then, that this material consideration becomes of so great importance; it is thus that in considering the physical condition of man, we are considering the very foundations of his highest hopes and destiny.

Now, then, let me show you how, in this artificial existence which the shopkeeper leads, he is interfering with the functions of the various organs of his body, and consequently the health of his whole frame and mind and spiritual being. In the first place we will draw your attention to the fact of man taking his food from the vegetable kingdom; and this food he takes by means of a set of organs, known as the masticatory and deglutatory organs. You will find here in this drawing some of these organs. This represents the mouth, in which you will find a set of teeth for the purpose of crushing and grinding the food-here glands for the purpose of supplying saliva,—and the tongue to carry the food thus prepared back to the throat, and thence into the stomach. If the food is not properly prepared by this apparatus, it is not fit to be digested. Now we find even in this simple process, that these persons are exposed to injury. We find, generally, that they consume their food so quickly, that half an hour is said not to be occupied by all the meals taken in a Draper's shop during the day. One would hardly suppose that cannibals would swallow their food so quickly; and yet it appears that the young men are forced to do it. Here, then, is an evil at the very beginning. Now let us go further:-here we have the stomach; this organ secretes the gastric

juice, and by it the food is reduced to what is called chyme: this chyme consists of solid and fluid; the fluid part is the chyle, which is taken into the system, and forms blood. Now the conditions under which this process is performed in a healthy manner are these:-in the first place, there should be a due secretion of blood sent to the stomach: now, in order that this blood should find its way to the stomach, it is necessary that all the other organs should be unoccupied; if the brain and the muscular system be occupied, it is not properly sent to the stomach. Now, in the case of these young men, if half an hour only be given for all the meals, allowing a quarter of an hour to dinner, there is no time for digestion: they are hurried from their meals to business, and digestion is only imperfectly performed. Thus, then, we have frequently, I believe, in this very first stage of blood-making, the foundation of indigestion laid. And what is the consequence?—why, the blood is deteriorated; and, if so, every other organ must suffer, as the blood makes up every other organ of the system.

We may now trace the chyle into the circulation. It passes from the stomach to the right side of the heart, where, being mingled with the blood, it passes from thence to the lungs, where, by exposure to the atmosphere, it becomes converted into blood. Now, there are several conditions necessary in order to render this blood fitted for purposes of nutrition. Not only, however, does the chyle pass into the lungs to undergo a certain change, but there is a quantity of blood which has a black colour, which is constantly returned by the veins, and this black blood meets with the chyle, and both together are carried into the right ventricle of the heart, and from thence into the lungs. Now, in passing into the lungs, the blood is exposed to the oxygen of the atmosphere, and the changes it undergoes are essential, in order that it may be converted into the fabric of the body. The atmosphere is composed of two gases, nitrogen and oxygen; four parts of the former, and one of the latter. The nitrogen exerts little or no influence on the blood, but the oxygen chemically unites with certain portions of it, and effects important changes. The blood is composed of globules floating in a fluid medium. The globules are the part which are acted on by the oxygen. The globules of chyle, and the globules of black blood, contain carbon. The carbon is a material taken in with the food in considerable quantities in the form of sugar, butter, starch, and other products of the vegetable kingdom; but it does not build up the fabric of the system. It comes in contact with the atmosphere, and combines with its oxygen, and thus produces carbonic acid gas. Now, in this, we have two purposes effected: in the first place, a noxious material is carried off from the system; and in the second, we have a large quantity of heat given out. Now, then, if the atmosphere be deteriorated, this process takes place imperfectly; and what is the consequence? why a large number of the black globules get to the other side of the heart which ought to have been changed into a red state, and being circulated through the system, they produce a depressing effect upon the body. In the next place, the want of a due supply of oxygen prevents the giving out a sufficient quantity of heat by the union of the oxygen with the carbon, and the consequence is, that the body becomes cold, and its functions are languidly performed.

If you immerse an animal in a jar, and cover it up, it will consume the oxygen, and give out carbonic acid gas, and the consequence is, that you deteriorate the atmosphere, and it speedily dies. The animal dies, not so much from the poisonous carbonic acid, as from the want of oxygen gas. If you observe the animal, you will find that the animal heat becomes less, its heart beats more and more slowly; the consequence is, the various functions of the body are not properly performed, it ceases to be conscious, its heart stops, and it dies. Now, then, what occurs under these circumstances,-a deprivation of the oxygen of the atmosphere will always occur in rooms imperfectly ventilated. There is seldom such a deprivation of air in shops as to produce death, but the causes that would produce death, if sufficiently intense, are acting there; and what they cannot effect

body, and the conThus we find there impurity of the air.

immediately, they do in the course of a short time, varying according to the degree of deterioration to which the atmosphere is exposed. The causes of deterioration of the atmosphere in shops not well ventilated are several. There is, first, a large quantity of impure air given out from the lungs, and the more persons there are, the greater will this be. The materials in a shop will also contaminate the air. Another cause is, that during the night, and during the day in dark streets, the places are lighted up with gas. How these lights are deteriorating the atmosphere!-for light and heat are produced in a gasburner, from the combustion of carbon, just as heat is produced in the sequence is consumption of oxygen and formation of carbonic acid. are several causes existing in the atmosphere of shops leading to Now if you suppose this is going on for sixteen hours for six days out of the seven, you will see that the blood must more or less suffer; for there is no constituent of the body which is of so much consequence to the body as the blood. It is through its means that every organ of the body is maintained in due health; but if it be imperfectly oxygenated, the functions of the body are gradually impaired, an insidious process goes on in the body, and, at last, the person sinks into some of those diseases which are known to be incurable. But not only are the causes of deterioration going on from large number of individuals being collected together, but there is perpetually given off from the body of those persons themselves a certain quantity of exhalation, arising from the natural secretion of the skin, injurious to the system. It is admitted, that organic particles, when taken again into the body, are injurious. They are got rid of, because they are not wanted; and if any gets back into the body again, it produces disease. This seems to be the frequent cause of influenza and catarrh. A large quantity of decomposing animal matter is carried into the atmosphere; this the body absorbs, and the animal matter in the system is thrown into a state of fermentation, as it were, when persons are confined together in closed rooms, as is often the case during the winter: this animal matter is absorbed, especially during moist weather, and is the cause of a variety of diseases such as catarrh. Now this is what those persons who are closely confined in shops are exposed to, and I believe it is not unfrequently the case, that all the persons in a shop are affected at once. This arises from insufficient ventilation. The same thing occurs in public rooms, where no provision is made for ventilation. Chlorine is given out from goods in shops, and produces a depressing effect upon the system. There is also frequently an escape of carburetted and sulphurated hydrogen from the gas-lamps, and these add other causes of depression and consequent disease. I would not point them out as a necessary source of disease; but they combine, with other things, to produce ill-health, and should be avoided as much as possible.

But let me now carry you on to another system of organs, a system suffering materially from this kind of confinement. I mean the muscular system-that system which distinguishes animals from plants. In the human being, it is found in the form of elongated fibres, and these fibres are supplied with blood-vessels and nerves. Every time that these muscles are used, certain atoms of which they are composed are destroyed, or removed, and these require to be renewed by others from the blood. It is this that causes persons to be exhausted, by constantly using the muscles. This exhaustion is increased, where there is a want of a due supply either in quantity or quality of blood. Now I need not tell you, that in places or occupations where persons cannot gain a due supply of pure blood, they must suffer, and this is frequently the case, that persons engaged in an occupation requiring great strength, and employed in close places, find their strength fail them on account of the want of this necessary ingredient for renewing the structure of the employed muscles. But the nerves are still more important. Each muscle is supplied with a set of sentient and volitionary nerves. The first gives the power of sensation; the second conveys the volitions of the mind. Now,

if the nerves of the system be not duly supplied with pure blood, then they cannot be properly renewed-their functions fail; there may be either a want of power in these nerves, or they may be too active, so that the mind cannot control them. Now, such states frequently come on in persons obliged to use these muscles where a demand is made on one particular set of muscles to the exclusion of the others. One would think standing in a shop might be done for almost any length of time; but one set of muscles alone are employed, and there is thus an irregular demand made on the nerve, and on the circulation, to supply particular organs. I have no doubt that standing sixteen hours a day in a shop is injurious to the whole muscular system; for not only is the person exposed to an injurious influence from the over-action of one set of muscles, but there are some not used at all; and if a man is only occupying from twenty to thirty muscles during the day, there are other muscles which are not doing what they ought, in order to retain their health and vigour.

If persons were to be submitted to some process of measuring the strength of all their muscles before they went into one of these shops, and were to be measured again after they had undergone this process for one year, there would be found a material decrease of actual power. I do not mean to say this would always produce a state of ill-health, or destroy life; but it combines, with other causes, to prevent that state of the body in which health is secured. We find that it is just the same with individual sets of organs as with mind and body that if one suffers all suffer; and thus they re-act one upon another, and all the organs of the body may become diseased, at length, from the injurious action of one, or one set. If the stomach be in a diseased state, and does not digest its food properly, the chyle is improperly formed, as well as the blood which is made from it; and when the stomach performs its functions properly, if the blood is improperly ærated in the lungs, it goes to the body in an imperfect state, and the organs of the body are imperfectly developed.

(To be continued.)

Prize Essay.

PHRENOLOGY.

BY R. SMITH.

THERE is scarcely a system in vogue at any time, whether religious, political, or philosophical in its pretensions, that is altogether destitute of truth. The difficulty lies in determining the kind and degree of truth; but the difficulty is not sought to be mastered. Men fall into two very opposite errors respecting it on the one hand, it is forced into a preternatural shape, or on the other, utterly abandoned for its connexion with much that is obviously false and absurd. Both these errors have been committed against phrenology. It has had to suffer through the advocacy of injudicious friends, and the opposition of remorseless enemies. One side has thrust it forward as the basis of religion, morals, jurisprudence, politics, and general science and art; claiming for it the exclusive capacity to settle all questions of mind and morals, and to resolve all philosophical enigmas; and the other side has denounced it as rampant materialism, or, what is worse, as a modern form of inflexible fate. It were needless to dilate upon the manifest inconsistency of both parties: in one, we see extravagant

enthusiasm; in the other, blind prejudice. We hope to escape the tyranny of both by a careful observance of the principles of a sounder philosophy; not hesitating to state fully our views on this subject, despite the rod in terrorem, which is to be put in requisition a month hence.

Phrenology assumes to be the science of mind. It puts in its claims against many rivals-some of great repute, in a fearless, but not presumptuous spirit. Like many other systems, it takes the brain as the organ of the mind; but, unlike every other system, it assigns distinct functions to distinct portions of that organ. According to the generally-received doctrines of mind, the brain acts as a whole in each phenomenon; but according to Phrenology, it acts in part only, relatively to the phenomena to be produced. The portions of brain which produce these phenomena, are called organs; and are mainly divided into moral, intellectual, and animal, which are numerously subdivided. That part of the brain in which the moral and intellectual organs are located, is called the anterior or cerebrum; whilst that in which the inferior, or animal organs, are situated, is styled the posterior or cerebellum; the former being the larger, the latter the smaller part of the brain. The activity of the functions assigned to the different organs, depends upon their size and quality, the temperament of the individual, his education, and the circumstances by which he is surrounded. This may suffice to indicate the general pretensions of Phrenology, with the truth of which, in its generic features, rather than in detail, we have to do. Let us look to the evidence.

We argue the truth of Phrenology on the ground of the differences betwixt individuals. These differences must be sought in either the spiritual mind, with which Phrenology is not at variance, or in its physical instrument—the brain. If they arise from the former, we cannot see how the identity of the individual can co-exist with the removal of those differences, many of which are absolutely inconsistent with a future improved state of being; if, however, they arise from the physical organ of the mind, their removal cannot affect the spiritual mind, since it would be nothing more than putting off a part of its dress. It may be argued, that the differences in question can be accounted for on the supposition that the brain acts as a whole in the production of each phenomenon. If, however, it can be shown, that these differences are always contingent upon certain specific differences in the brain itself, this argument falls to the ground. We hence further assert, that the prominence or depression of certain parts of the brain in persons of the same temperament and circumstances is found to be co-ordinate with particular phenomena; whilst a difference in respect to the brain, however slight, although the temperament, education, and circumstances, may be identical, will be found to change entirely the character of the phenomena. But it may be further argued, that whilst a difference in a portion of the brain, though other things be equal, may change entirely the character of the phenomena, it does not follow that a given function is confined to a given portion of the cerebral mass. We are prepared to admit, on the principle that the brain invariably acts as a whole, that a difference in a part might change the phenomena; but the fact which sustains the claims of Phrenology here is, that a difference in one particular part of the brain alone, is the cause of the diversity of the particular phenomena; and that no difference in any other part can occasion the same diversity in the same phenomena. Thus we consider we may fairly assume, that the